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' PRESENTED BY 

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25 OEIsTTS. 





A LECTURE 




BY 



ROBERT G. INGERSOLL. 

Nothing is grander than to break chains from the bodies of men — nothing 
nobler than to destroy the phantoms of the soul 



NEW YORK. 

C P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER, 

1907 



Col. Robert G. IngersolTs 

COMPLETE WORKS 

Dresden Edition of 12 Handsome Octavo Volumes 

Complete index to all the volumes and table of contents to each volume 



THE only authorized and complete edition of Ingersoll's works. Published with 
the authority and supervision of the family, from his manuscripts, notes and 
literary memoranda. Tlfis edition of the writings of Robert G. Ingersoll justifies 
its description as complete. Besides including all of the author's famous lectures, 
addresses and orations already issued in pamphlet form, the volumes contain three 
thousand pages of matter not hitherto published. Among his inedited writings, now 
first appearing, may be mentioned the author's first lecture, entitled "Progress," 
delivered in i860; the lectures on "Robert Burns," "The Great Infidels,' "My 
Reviewers Reviewed; " an answer to the Rev. Lyman Abbott's article, ''Flaws in 
Ingersollism," published in the North American Review ; an answer to Archdeacon 
Farrar's article, "A Few Words on Colonel Ingersoll," published in the same 
magazine; an answer to the Dean of St. Paul's article on " Cruelty ;" many new 
pages on Divorce, after-dinner Speeches, Magazine articles on the Chinese Question; 
essays on Art and Morality, "Three Philanthropists," " Is Avarice Triumphant?" 
"Some Interrogation Points^ (on the Labor Question); Prefaces, Tributes, Frag- 
ments, etc., etc. Among the numerous essays to be found in these volumes are those 
on Professor Huxley, Ernest Renan, and Count Tolstoy. 

The matter given precedence in the Dresden Edition, as might be foreseen, com- 
prises the author's great lectures on the Bible and the Christian Religion and his 
discussions with theologians, amateur and professional. Among his opponents 
were the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Cardinal Manning, judge Jeremiah S. Black, 
and the Rev. Henry M. Field, whose defences of their faith are given in full. It is 
doubted that Colonel Ingersoll's Replies will be found in the published writings of 
(hose authors. 

The work is beautifully illustrated with photogravures, etchings, half-tones and 
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COMMENTS 

"Colonel Ingersoll writes with a rare and enviable brilliancy." 

— Wm. E. Gladstow*. 
"I envy the land that brings forth such glorious fruit as an Ingersoll." 

— Bjornstjerne Bjornson. 
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•'Royal Bob," as Garfield called him, was never in better feather, and how deep he 
goes and how high he soars." — Walt Whitman. 

" Col. Ingersol-l, the man whom above all others I should have wished and hoped 
to meet if I had visited America during his lifetime." 

— Algernon Chaklbs Swinburne. 

" Col. Ingsrsoll, whose services for the promotion of the truth, I value most 
sincerely." — Prof. Ernst Haeckel. 

•' His was a great and beautiful spirit, he was a man — all man, from his crown to 
his foot soles. My reverence for him was deep and genuine, I prized his affection 
for me, and returned it with usury." — Mark Twain. 




\ \ 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



A LECTURE 



2Y 



Robert G: Ingersoll. 



Nothing is grander than to break chains from the bodies of men — nothing 
nobler than to destroy the phantoms c-f the soul. 



NEW YORK. 

C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER, 

1907 



.PV7 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, by 

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C, 



3aSmO. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



i. 



/^""\N the 1 2th of February, 1809, two babes were 
^" > ^ born — one in the woods of Kentucky, amid 
the hardships and poverty of pioneers ; one in Eng- 
land, surrounded by wealth and culture. One was 
educated in the University of Nature, the other at 
Cambridge. 

One associated his name with the enfranchisement 
of labor, with the emancipation of millions, with the 
salvation of the Republic. He is known to us as 
Abraham Lincoln. 

The other broke the chains of superstition and 

filled the world with intellectual light, and he is 

known as Charles Darwin. 

Nothing is grander than to break chains from the 

(123) 



124 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

bodies of men — nothing nobler than to destroy the. 
phantoms of the soul. 

Because of these two men the nineteenth century 
is illustrious. 

A few men and women make a nation glorious — 
Shakespeare made England immortal, Voltaire civil- 
ized and humanized France ; Goethe, Schiller and 
Humboldt lifted Germany into the light. Angelo, 
Raphael, Galileo and Bruno crowned with fadeless 
laurel the Italian brow, and now the most precious 
treasure of the Great Republic is the memory of 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Every generation has its heroes, its iconoclasts, its 
pioneers, its ideals. The people always have been 
and still are divided, at least into classes — the many, 
who with their backs to the sunrise worship the 
past, and the few, who keep their faces toward the 
dawn — the many, who are satisfied with the world 
as it is ; the few, who labor and suffer for the future, 
for those to be, and who seek to rescue the op- 
pressed, to destroy the cruel distinctions of caste, 
and to civilize mankind. 

Yet it sometimes happens that the liberator of one 
age becomes the oppressor of the next. His repu- 
tation becomes so great — he is so revered and wor- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, I 2 ^ 

shiped — that his followers, in his name, attack the 
hero who endeavors to take another step in advance. 

The heroes of the Revolution, forgetting the jus- 
tice for which they fought, put chains upon the limbs 
of others, and in their names the lovers of liberty 
were denounced as ingrates and traitors. 

During the Revolution our fathers to justify their 
rebellion dug down to the bed-rock of human rights 
and planted their standard there. They declared 
that all men were entitled to liberty and that govern- 
ment derived its power from the consent of the 
governed. But when victory came, the great prin- 
ciples were forgotten and chains were put upon the 
limbs of men. Both of the great political parties 
were controlled by greed and selfishness. Both 
were the defenders and protectors of slavery. For 
nearly three-quarters of a century these parties had 
control of the Republic. The principal object of 
both parties was the protection of the infamous in- 
stitution. Both were eager to secure the Southern 
vote and both sacrificed principle and honor upon 
the altar of success. 

At last the Whig party died and the Republican 
was born. This party was opposed to the further 
extension of slavery. The Democratic party of the 



126 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

South wished to make the " divine institution " 
national — while the Democrats of the North wanted 
the question decided by each territory for itself. 

Each of these parties had conservatives and ex- 
tremists. The extremists of the Democratic party 
were in the rear and wished to go back ; the ex- 
tremists of the Republican party were in the front, 
and wished to go forward. The extreme Democrat 
was willing to destroy the Union for the sake of 
slavery, and the extreme Republican was willing to 
destroy the Union for the sake of liberty. 

Neither party could succeed without the votes of 
its extremists. 

This was the condition in i858-6o. 

When Lincoln was a child his parents removed 
from Kentucky to Indiana. A few trees were felled 
— a log hut open to the south, no floor, no window, 
was built — a little land plowed and here the Lincolns 
lived. Here the patient, thoughtful, silent, loving 
mother died — died in the wide forest as a leaf dies, 
leaving nothing to her son but the memory of her 
love. 

In a few years the family moved to Illinois. Lin- 
coln then almost grown, clad in skins, with no woven 
stitch upon his body — walking and driving the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 12/ 

cattle. Another farm was opened — a few acres 
subdued and enough raised to keep the wolf from 
the door. Lincoln quit the farm — went down the 
Ohio and Mississippi as a hand on a flat-boat — ■ 
afterward clerked in a country store — then in part- 
nership with another bought the store — failed. 
Nothing left but a few debts — learned the art of 
surveying — made about half a living and paid some- 
thing on the debts — read law — admitted to the bar 
— tried a few small cases — nominated for the Legis- 
lature and made a speech. 

This speech was in favor of a tariff, not only for 
revenue, but to encourage American manufacturers 
and to protect American workingmen. Lincoln 
knew then as well as we do now, that everything, 
to the limits of the possible, that Americans use 
should be produced by the energy, skill and in- 
genuity of Americans. He knew that the more 
industries we had, the greater variety of things we 
made, the greater would be the development of the 
American brain. And he knew that great men and 
great women are the best things that a nation can 
produce, — the finest crop a country can possibly 
raise. 

He knew that a nation that sells raw material will 



128 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



grow ignorant and poor, while the people who man- 
ufacture will grow intelligent and rich. To dig, to 
chop, to plow, requires more muscle than mind, more 
strength than thought. 

To invent, to manufacture, to take advantage of 
the forces of nature — this requires thought, talent, 
genius. This develops the brain and gives wings 
to the imagination. 

It is better for Americans to purchase from Amer- 
icans, even if the things purchased cost more. 

If we purchase a ton of steel rails from England 
for twenty dollars, then we have the rails and Eng- 
land the money. But if we buy a ton of steel rails 
from an American for twenty-five dollars, then 
America has both the rails and the money. 

Judging from the present universal depression and 
the recent elections, Lincoln, in his first speech, 
stood on solid rock and was absolutely right. Lin- 
coln was educated in the University of Nature — 
educated by cloud and star — by field and winding 
stream — by billowed plains and solemn forests — by 
morning's birth and death of day — by storm and 
night — by the ever eager Spring — by Summer's 
wealth of leaf and vine and flower — the sad and 
transient glories of the Autumn woods — and Win- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 129 

ter, builder of home and fireside, and whose storms 
without, create the social warmth within. 

He was perfectly acquainted with the political 
questions of the day — heard them discussed at 
taverns and country stores, at voting places and 
courts and on the stump. He knew all the argu- 
ments for and against, and no man of his time was 
better equipped for intellectual conflict. He knew 
the average mind — the thoughts of the people, the 
hopes and prejudices of his fellow-men. He had 
the power of accurate statement. He was logical, 
candid and sincere. In addition, he had the " touch 
of nature that makes the whole world kin." 

In 1 858 he was a candidate for the Senate against 
Stephen A. Douglas. 

The extreme Democrats would not vote for Doug- 
las, but the extreme Republicans did vote for Lin- 
coln. Lincoln occupied the middle ground, and was 
the compromise candidate of his own party. He 
had lived for many years in the intellectual territory 
of compromise — in a part of our country settled by 
Northern and Southern men — where Northern and 
Southern ideas met, and the ideas of the two sec- 
tions were brought together and compared. 

The sympathies of Lincoln, his ties of kindred, 



11,0 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

were with the South. His convictions, his sense of 
justice, and his ideals, were with the North. He 
knew the horrors of slavery, and he felt the un- 
speakable ecstasies and glories of freedom. He had 
the kindness, the gentleness, of true greatness, and 
he could not have been a master ; he had the man- 
hood and independence of true greatness, and he 
could not have been a slave. He was just, and was 
incapable of putting a burden upon others that he 
himself would not willingly bear. 

He was merciful and profound, and it was not 
necessary for him to read the history of the world to 
know that liberty and slavery could not live in the 
same nation, or in the same brain. Lincoln was a 
statesman. And there is this difference between a 
politician and a statesman. A politician schemes 
and works in every way to make the people do 
something for him. A statesman wishes to do some- 
thing for the people. With him place and power 
are means to an end, and the end is the good of his 
country. 

In this campaign Lincoln demonstrated three things 
— first, that he was the intellectual superior of his op- 
ponent ; second, that he was right ; and third, that a 
majority of the voters of Illinois were on his side. 



II. 

IN i860 the Republic reached a crisis. The con- 
flict between liberty and slavery could no longer 
be delayed. For three-quarters of a century the 
forces had been gathering for the battle. 

After the Revolution, principle was sacrificed for 
the sake of gain. The Constitution contradicted the 
Declaration. Liberty as a principle was held in con- 
tempt. Slavery took possession of the Government. 
Slavery made the laws, corrupted courts, dominated 
Presidents and demoralized the people. 

I do not hold the South responsible for slavery 
any more than I do the North. The fact is, that 
individuals and nations act as they must. There is 
no chance. Back of every event — of every hope, 
prejudice, fancy and dream — of every opinion and 
belief — of every vice and virtue — of every smile 
and curse, is the efficient cause. The present mo- 
ment is the child, and the necessary child, of all the 
past. 

Northern politicians wanted office, and so they 
defended slavery ; Northern merchants wanted to 
sell their goods to the South, and so they were the 

enemies of freedom. The preacher wished to please 

C13O 



I3 2 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

the people who paid his salary, and so he denounced 
the slave for not being satisfied with the position in 
which the good God had placed him. 

The respectable, the rich, the prosperous, the 
holders of and the seekers for office, held liberty in 
contempt. They regarded the Constitution as far 
more sacred than the rights of men. Candidates 
for the presidency were applauded because they had 
tried to make slave States of free territory, and the 
highest court solemnly and ignorantly decided that 
colored men and women had no ripdits. Men who 

o 

insisted that freedom was better than slavery, and 
that mothers should not be robbed of their babes, 
were hated, despised and mobbed. Mr. Douglas 
voiced the feelings of millions when he declared that 
he did not care whether slavery was voted up or 
down. Upon this question the people, a majority 
of them, were almost savages. Honor, manhood, 
conscience, principle — all sacrificed for the sake of 
gain or office. 

From the heights of philosophy — standing above 
the contending hosts, above the prejudices, the 
sentimentalities of the day ■ — Lincoln was great 
enough and brave enough and wise enough to utter 
these prophetic words : 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this 
Government cannot permanently endure half slave and hali 
free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved ; I do not ex- 
pect the house to fall ; but I do expect it will cease to be 
divided. It will become all the one thing or the other. Either 
the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and 
place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is 
in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push 
it further until it becomes alike lawful in all the States, old as 
well as new, North as well as South." 

This declaration was the standard around which 
gathered the grandest political party the world has 
ever seen, and this declaration made Lincoln the 
leader of that vast host. 

In this, the first great crisis, Lincoln uttered the 
victorious truth that made him the foremost man in 
the Republic. 

The Republican party nominated him for the 
presidency and the people decided at the polls that 
a house divided against itself could not stand, and 
that slavery had cursed soul and soil enough. 

It is not a common thing to elect a really great 
man to fill the highest official position. I do not say 
that the great Presidents have been chosen by acci- 
dent. Probably it would be better to say that they 
were the favorites of a happy chance. 

The average man is afraid of genius. He feels as 



134 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

an awkward man feels in the presence of a sleight- 
of-hand performer. He admires and suspects. 
Genius appears to carry too much sail — to lack 
prudence, has too much courage. The ballast of 
dullness inspires confidence. 

By a happy chance Lincoln was nominated and 
elected in spite of his fitness — and the patient, 
gentle, just and loving man was called upon to bear 
as great a burden as man has ever borne. 

III. 

r "PHEN came another crisis — the crisis of Seces- 
sion and Civil war. 
Again Lincoln spoke the deepest feeling and the 
highest thought of the Nation. In his first message 
he said : 

" The central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy." 

He also showed conclusively that the North and 
South, in spite of secession, must remain face to 
face — that physically they could not separate ■ — that 
they must have more or less commerce, and that 
this commerce must be carried on either between 
the two sections as friends, or as aliens. 

This situation and its consequences he pointed 
out to absolute perfection in these words : 



ABRAHAM. LINCOLN. I3*> 

" Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? 
Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than 
laws among friends ? " 

After having stated fully and fairly the philosophy 
of the conflict, after having said enough to satisfy 
any calm and thoughtful mind, he addressed himself 
to the hearts of America. Probably there are few 
finer passages in literature than the close of Lin- 
coln's inaugural address : 

" I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We 
must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it 
must not break, our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of 
memory stretching from every battlefield and patriotic grave to 
every loving heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, 
will swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as 
surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. ' ' 

These noble, these touching, these pathetic words, 
were delivered in the presence of rebellion, in the 
midst of spies and conspirators — surrounded by but 
few friends, most of whom were unknown, and some 
of whom were wavering in their fidelity — at a time 
when secession was arrogant and organized, when 
patriotism was silent, and when, to quote the ex- 
pressive words of Lincoln himself, " Sinners were 
calling the righteous to repentance." 

When Lincoln became President, he was held in 



I36 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

contempt by the South — underrated by the North 
and East — not appreciated even by his cabinet — 
and yet he was not only one of the wisest, but one 
of the shrewdest of mankind. Knowing that he had 
the right to enforce the laws of the Union in all 
parts of the United States and Territories — know- 
ing, as he did, that the secessionists were in the 
wrong, he also knew that they had sympathizers not 
only in the North, but in other lands. 

Consequently, he felt that it was of the utmost im- 
portance that the South should fire the first shot, 
should do some act that would solidify the North, 
and gain for us the justification of the civilized world. 

He proposed to give food to the soldiers at Sum- 
ter. He asked the advice of all his cabinet on this 
question, and all, with the exception of Montgomery 
Blair, answered in the negative, giving their reasons 
in writing. In spite of this, Lincoln took his own 
course — endeavored to send the supplies, and while 
thus engaged, doing his simple duty, the South 
commenced actual hostilities and fired on the fort. 
The course pursued by Lincoln was absolutely right, 
and the act of the South to a great extent solidified 
the North, and gained for the Republic the justifica- 
tion of a great number of people in other lands. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 

At that time Lincoln appreciated the scope and 
consequences of the impending conflict. Above all 
other thoughts in his mind was this : 

"This conflict will settle the question, at least for 
" centuries to come, whether man is capable of 
" governing himself, and consequently is of greater 
" importance to the free than to the enslaved." 

He knew what depended on the issue and he said : 

" We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, 
" best hope of earth." 

IV. 

T^HEN came a crisis in the North. It became 
clearer and clearer to Lincoln's mind, day by 
day, that the Rebellion was slavery, and that it was 
necessary to keep the border States on the side of 
the Union. For this purpose he proposed a scheme 
of emancipation and colonization — a scheme by 
which the owners of slaves should be paid the full 
value of what they called their " property." 

He knew that if the border States agreed to grad- 
ual emancipation, and received compensation for 
their slaves, they would be forever lost to the Con- 
federacy, whether secession succeeded or not. It 
was objected at the time, by some, that the scheme 



I38 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

was far too expensive ; but Lincoln, wiser than his 
advisers — far wiser than his enemies — demon- 
strated that from an economical point of view, his 
course was best. 

He proposed that $400 be paid for slaves, includ- 
ing men, women and children. This was a larqe: 
price, and yet he showed how much cheaper it was 
to purchase than to carry on the war. 

At that time, at the price mentioned, there were 
about #75o,ooo worth of slaves in Delaware. The 
cost of carrying on the war was at least two millions 
of dollars a day, and for one-third of one day's ex- 
penses, all the slaves in Delaware could be purchased. 
He also showed that all the slaves in Delaware, 
Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri could be bought, 
at the same price, for less than the expense of carry- 
ing on the war for eighty-seven days. 

This was the wisest thing that could have been 
proposed, and yet such was the madness of the 
South, such the indignation of the North, that the 
advice was unheeded. 

Again, in July, 1862, he urged on the Representa- 
tives of the border States a scheme of gradual com- 
pensated emancipation ; but the Representatives 
were too deaf to hear, too blind to see. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 39 

Lincoln always hated slavery, and yet he felt the 
obligations and duties of his position. In his first 
message he assured the South that the laws, includ- 
ing the most odious of all — the law for the return 
of fugitive slaves — would be enforced. The South 
would not hear. Afterward he proposed to pur- 
chase the slaves of the border States, but the propo- 
sition was hardly discussed — hardly heard. Events 
came thick and fast ; theories gave way to facts, and 
everything was left to force. 

The extreme Democrat of the North was fearful 
that slavery might be destroyed, that the Constitu- 
tion might be broken, and that Lincoln, after all, 
could not be trusted ; and at the same time the radi- 
cal Republican feared that Lincoln loved the Union 
more than he did liberty. 

The fact is, that he tried to discharge the obliga- 
tions of his great office, knowing from the first that 
slavery must perish. The course pursued by Lin- 
coln was so gentle, so kind and persistent, so wise 
and logical, that millions of Northern Democrats 
sprang to the defence, not only of the Union, but of 
his administration. Lincoln refused to be led or 
hurried by Fremont or Hunter, by Greeley or Sum- 
ner. From first to last he was the real leader, and 
he kept step with events. 



V. 



/^"\N the 2 2d of July, 1862, Lincoln sent word to 
^^ the members of his cabinet that he wished to 
see them. It so happened that Secretary Chase was 
the first to arrive. He found Lincoln reading a 
book. Looking up from the page, the President 
said : " Chase, did you ever read this book ?" "What 
book is it ?" asked Chase. "Artemus Ward," re- 
plied Lincoln. " Let me read you this chapter, 
entitled ' Wax Wurx in Albany! " And so he began 
reading while the other members of the cabinet one 
by one came in. At last Stanton told Mr. Lincoln 
that he was in a great hurry, and if any business was 
to be done he would like to do it at once. Where- 
upon Mr. Lincoln laid down the open book, opened 
a drawer, took out a paper and said : " Gentlemen, I 
have called you together to notify you what I have 
determined to do, I want no advice. Nothing can 
change my mind." 

He then read the Proclamation of Emancipation. 
Chase thought there ought to be something about 
God at the close, to which Lincoln replied : " Put it 

in, it won't hurt it." It was also agreed that the 

(uo) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I4I 

President would wait for a victory in the field before 
giving the Proclamation to the world. 

The meeting was over, the members went their 
way. Mr. Chase was the last to go, and as he went 
through the door looked back and saw that Mr. Lin- 
coln had taken up the book and was again engrossed 
in the Wax Wurx at Albany. 

This was on the 22d of July, 1862. On the 22d 
of August of the same year — after Lincoln wrote 
his celebrated letter to Horace Greeley, in which he 
stated that his object was to save the Union ; that he 
would save it with slavery if he could ; that if it was 
necessary to destroy slavery in order to save the 
Union, he would ; in other words, he would do what 
was necessary to save the Union. 

This letter disheartened, to a great degree, thou- 
sands and millions of the friends of freedom. They 
felt that Mr. Lincoln had not attained the moral 
height upon which they supposed he stood. And 
yet, when this letter was written, the Emancipation 
Proclamation was in his hands, and had been for 
thirty days, waiting only an opportunity to give it to 
the world. 

Some two weeks after the letter to Greeley, Lin- 
coln was waited on by a committee of clergymen, 



142 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

and was by them informed that it was God's will that 
he should issue a Proclamation of Emancipation. 
He replied to them, in substance, that the day of 
miracles had passed. He also mildly and kindly 
suggested that if it were God's will this Proclamation 
should be issued, certainly God would have made 
known that will to him — to the person whose duty 
it was to issue it. 

On the 2 2d day of September, 1862, the most 
glorious date in the history of the Republic, the 
Proclamation of Emancipation was issued. 

Lincoln had reached the generalization of all argu- 
ment upon the question of slavery and freedom — a 
generalization that never has been, and probably 
never will be, excelled : 

" In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the 
free." 

This is absolutely true. Liberty can be retained, 
can be enjoyed, only by giving it to others. The 
spendthrift saves, the miser is prodigal. In the realm 
of Freedom, waste is husbandry. He who puts 
chains upon the body of another shackles his own 
soul. The moment the Proclamation was issued 
the cause of the Republic became sacred. From 
that moment the North fought for the human race. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 143 

From that moment the North stood under the blue 
and stars, the flag of Nature, sublime and free. 

In 1 83 1, Lincoln went down the Mississippi on a 
flat-boat. He received the extravagant salary of 
ten dollars a month. When he reached New Or- 
leans, he and some of his companions went about 
the city. 

Among other places, they visited a slave market, 
where men and women were being sold at auction. 
A young colored girl was on the block. Lincoln 
heard the brutal words of the auctioneer — the savage 
remarks of bidders. The scene filled his soul with 
indignation and horror. 

Turning to his companions, he said, " Boys, if I 
ever get a chance to hit slavery, by God I'll hit it 
hard ! " 

The helpless girl, unconsciously, had planted in a 
great heart the seeds of the Proclamation. 

Thirty-one years afterward the chance came, the 
oath was kept, and to four millions of slaves, of men, 
women and children, was restored liberty, the jewel 
of the soul. 

In the history, in the fiction of the world, there is 
nothing more intensely dramatic than this. 

Lincoln held within his brain the grandest truths, 



144 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

and he held them as unconsciously, as easily, as 
naturally, as a waveless pool holds within its stainless 
breast a thousand stars. 

In these two years we had traveled from the Or- 
dinance of Secession to the Proclamation of Eman- 
cipation. 

VI. 

"\ A 7"E were surrounded by enemies. Many of the 
* so-called great in Europe and England were 

against us. They hated the Republic, despised our 
institutions, and sought in many ways to aid the 
South. 

Mr. Gladstone announced that Jefferson Davis had 
made a nation, and that he did not believe the restor- 
ation of the American Union by force attainable. 

From the Vatican came words of encouragement 
for the South. 

It was declared that the North was fighting for 
empire and the South for independence. 

The Marquis of Salisbury said : " The people of 
the South are the natural allies of England. The 
North keeps an opposition shop in the same depart- 
ment of trade as ourselves." 

Not a very elevated sentiment — but English. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



145 



Some of their statesmen declared that the subju- 
gation of the South by the North would be a calamity 
to the world. 

Louis Napoleon was another enemy, and he en- 
deavored to establish a monarchy in Mexico, to the 
end that the great North might be destroyed. But 
the patience, the uncommon common sense, the 
statesmanship of Lincoln — in spite of foreign hate 
and Northern division — triumphed over all. And 
now we forgive all foes. Victory makes forgiveness 
easy. 

Lincoln was by nature a diplomat. He knew 
the art of sailing against the wind. He had as 
much shrewdness as is consistent with honesty. 
He understood, not only the rights of individ- 
uals, but of nations. In all his correspondence 
with other governments he neither wrote nor 
sanctioned a line which afterward was used to 
tie his hands. In the use of perfect English he 
easily rose above all his advisers and all his 
fellows. 

No one claims that Lincoln did all. He could 
have done nothing without the generals in the field, 
and the generals could have done nothing without 
their armies. The praise is due to all — to the 



I46 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

private as much as to the officer ; to the lowest who 
did his duty, as much as to the highest. 

My heart goes out to the brave private as much 
as to the leader of the host. 

But Lincoln stood at the centre and with infinite 
patience, with consummate skill, with the genius of 
goodness, directed, cheered, consoled and conquered. 



VII. 



QL AVERY was the cause of the war, and slavery 
^ was the perpetual stumbling-block. As the war 
went on, question after question arose — questions 
that could not be answered by theories. Should we 
hand back the slave to his master, when the master 
was using his slave to destroy the Union ? If the 
South was right, slaves were property, and by the 
laws of war anything that might be used to the ad- 
vantage of the enemy might be confiscated by us. 
Events did not wait for discussion. General Butler 
denominated the negro as " a contraband." Con- 
gress provided that the property of the rebels might 
be confiscated. 

The extreme Democrats of the North regarded 
the slave as more sacred than life. It was no harm 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 147 

to kill the master — to burn his house, to ravage his 
fields — but you must not free his slave. 

If in war a nation has the right to take the prop- 
erty of its citizens — of its friends — certainly it has 
the right to take the property of those it has the 
right to kill. 

Lincoln was wise enough to know that war 
is governed by the laws of war, and that dur- 
ing the conflict constitutions are silent. All 
that he could do he did in the interests of 
peace. He offered to execute every law — in- 
cluding the most infamous of all — to buy the 
slaves in the border States — to establish grad- 
ual, compensated emancipation ; but the South 
would not hear. Then he confiscated the prop- 
erty of rebels — treated the slaves as contraband 
of war, used them to put down the Rebellion, 
armed them and clothed them in the uniform 
of the Republic — was in favor of making 
them citizens and allowing them to stand on 
an equality with their white brethren under the 
flag of the Nation. During these years Lincoln 
moved with events, and every step he took has 
been justified by the considerate judgment of man- 
kind. 



VIII. 

I INCOLN not only watched the war, but kept his 
*-^ hand on the political pulse. In 1863 a tide set 
in against the administration. A Republican meet- 
ing was to be held in Springfield, Illinois, and Lin- 
coln wrote a letter to be read at this convention. 
It was in his happiest vein. It was a perfect defence 
of his administration, including the Proclamation of 
Emancipation. Among other things he said : 

1 ' But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or it is not 
valid. If it is not valid it needs no retraction, but if it is valid 
it cannot be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought 
to life." 

To the Northern Democrats who said they would 
not fight for negroes, Lincoln replied : 

"Some of them seem willing to fight for you — but no 
matter." 

Of negro soldiers : 

" But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why 

should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them ? 

If they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the 

strongest motive — even the promise of freedom. And the 

promise, being made, must be kept." 

(148) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 49 

There is one line in this letter that will give it 
immortality : 

"The Father of waters again goes unvexed to the sea." 

This line is worthy of Shakespeare. 
Another : 

"Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the 
ballot to the bullet." 

He draws a comparison between the white men 
against us and the black men for us : 

"And then there will be some black men who can remember 
that with silent tongue and clenched teeth and steady eye and 
well-poised bayonet they have helped mankind on to this great 
consummation ; while I fear there will be some white ones un- 
able to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech 
they strove to hinder it. ' ' 

Under the influence of this letter, the love of coun- 
try, of the Union, and above all, the love of liberty, 
took possession of the heroic North. 

There was the greatest moral exaltation ever 
known. 

The spirit of liberty took possession of the people. 
The masses became sublime. 

To fight for yourself is natural — to fight for others 
is grand ; to fight for your country is noble — to 



150 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

fight for the human race — for the liberty of hand 
and brain — is nobler still. 

As a matter of fact, the defenders of slavery had 
sown the seeds of their own defeat. They dug the 
pit in which they fell. Clay and Webster and thou- 
sands of others had by their eloquence made the 
Union almost sacred. The Union was the very tree 
of life, the source and stream and sea of liberty and 
law. •+ 

For the sake of slavery millions stood by the 
Union, for the sake of liberty millions knelt at the 
altar of the Union ; and this love of the Union 
is what, at last, overwhelmed the Confederate 
hosts. 

It does not seem possible that only a few 
years ago our Constitution, our laws, our Courts, 
the Pulpit and the Press defended and upheld 
the institution of slavery — that it was a crime to 
feed the hungry — to give water to the lips of 
thirst — shelter to a woman flying from the whip 
and chain ! 

The old flag still flies — the stars are there — the 
stains have gone. 



IX. 

T INCOLN always saw the end. He was unmoved 
*-^ by the storms and currents of the times. He 
advanced too rapidly for the conservative politicians, 
too slowly for the radical enthusiasts. He occupied 
the line of safety, and held by his personality — by 
the force of his great character, by his charming 
candor — the masses on his side. 

The soldiers thought of him as a father. 

All who had lost their sons in battle felt that they 
had his sympathy — felt that his face was as sad as 
theirs. They knew that Lincoln was actuated by 
one motive, and that his energies were bent to the 
attainment of one end — the salvation of the Re- 
public. 

They knew that he was kind, sincere and merci- 
ful. They knew that in his veins there was no drop 
of tyrants' blood. They knew that he used his 
power to protect the innocent, to save reputation 
and life — that he had the brain of a philosopher — 
the heart of a mother. 

During all the years of war, Lincoln stood the 

embodiment of mercy, between discipline and death. 

He pitied the imprisoned and condemned. He took 

(151) 



I 52 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

the unfortunate in his arms, and was the friend even 
of the convict. He knew temptation's strength — 
the weakness of the will — and how in fury's sudden 
flame the judgment drops the scales, and passion — 
blind and deaf — usurps the throne. 

One day a woman, accompanied by a Senator, 
called on the President. The woman was the wife 
of one of Mosby's men. Her husband had been 
captured, tried and condemned to be shot. She 
came to ask for the pardon of her husband. The 
President heard her story and then asked what kind 
of man her husband was. " Is he intemperate, does 
he abuse the children and beat you ? " " No, no," 
said the wife, " he is a good man, a good husband, 
he loves me and he loves the children, and we can- 
not live without him. The only trouble is that he 
is a fool about politics — I live in the North, born 
there, and if I get him home, he will do no more 
fighting for the South." " Well," said Mr. Lincoln, 
after examining the papers, " I will pardon your 
husband and turn him over to you for safe keeping." 
The poor woman, overcome with joy, sobbed as 
though her heart would break. 

" My dear woman," said Lincoln, " if I had known 
how badly it was going to make you feel, I never 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 53 

would have pardoned him." " You do not under- 
stand me," she cried between her sobs. " You do 
not understand me." " Yes, yes, I do," answered 
the President, " and if you do not go away at once I 
shall be crying with you.'* 

On another occasion, a member of Congress, on 
his way to see Lincoln, found in one of the ante- 
rooms of the White House an old white-haired man, 
sobbing — his wrinkled face wet with tears. The 
old man told him that for several days he had tried 
to see the President — that he wanted a pardon for 
his son. The Congressman told the old man to 
come with him and he would introduce him to Mr. 
Lincoln. On being introduced, the old man said : 
" Mr. Lincoln, my wife sent me to you. We had 
three boys. They all joined your army. One of 
'em has been killed, one's a fighting now, and one 
of 'em, the youngest, has been tried for deserting 
and he's going to be shot day after to-morrow. He 
never deserted. He's wild, and he may have drunk 
too much and wandered off, but he never deserted. 
'Taint in the blood. He's his mother's favorite, and 
if he's shot, I know she'll die." The President, 
turning to his secretary, said : " Telegraph General 
Butler to suspend the execution in the case of ■ 



154 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

[giving the name] until further orders from me, and 
ask him to answer ." 

The Congressman congratulated the old man on 
his success — but the old man did not respond. He 
was not satisfied. " Mr. President," he began, " I 
can't take that news home. It won't satisfy his 
mother. How do I know but what you'll give further 
orders to-morrow ? " " My good man," said Mr. 
Lincoln, " I have to do the best I can. The generals 
are complaining because I pardon so many. They 
say that my mercy destroys discipline. Now, when 
you get home you tell his mother what you said to 
me about my giving further orders, and then you tell 
her that I said this : ' If your son lives until they get 
further orders from me, that when he does die peo- 
ple will say that old Methusaleh was a baby com- 
pared to him.' " 

The pardoning power is the only remnant of ab- 
solute sovereignty that a President has. Through 
all the years, Lincoln will be known as Lincoln the 
loving, Lincoln the merciful. 



X. 

T INCOLN had the keenest sense of humor, and 
^ always saw the laughable side even of disaster. 
In his humor there was logic and the best of sense. 
No matter how complicated the question, or how 
embarrassing the situation, his humor furnished an 
answer and a door of escape. 

Vallandigham was a friend of the South, and did 
what he could to sow the seeds of failure. In his 
opinion everything, except rebellion, was unconsti- 
tutional. 

He was arrested, convicted by a court martial, and 
sentenced to imprisonment. 

There was doubt about the legality of the trial, 
and thousands in the North denounced the whole 
proceeding as tyrannical and infamous. At the same 
time millions demanded that Vallandigham should 
be punished. 

Lincoln's humor came to the rescue. He disap- 
proved of the findings of the court, changed the 
punishment, and ordered that Mr. Vallandigham 
should be sent to his friends in the South. 

Those who regarded the act as unconstitutional 

almost forgave it for the sake of its humor. 

(155) 



i56 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



Horace Greeley always had the idea that he was 
greatly superior to Lincoln, because he lived in a 
larger town, and for a long time insisted that the 
people of the North and the people of the South 
desired peace. He took it upon himself to lecture 
Lincoln. Lincoln, with that wonderful sense of 
humor, united with shrewdness and profound wisdom, 
told Greeley that, if the South really wanted peace, 
he (Lincoln) desired the same thing, and was doing 
all he could to bring it about. Greeley insisted that 
a commissioner should be appointed, with authority 
to negotiate with the representatives of the Con- 
federacy. This was Lincoln's opportunity. He 
authorized Greeley to act as such commissioner. 
The great editor felt that he was caught. For a 
time he hesitated, but finally went, and found that 
the Southern commissioners were willing to take 
into consideration any offers of peace that Lincoln 
might make, consistent with the independence of the 
Confederacy. 

The failure of Greeley was humiliating, and the 
position in which he was left, absurd. 

Again the humor of Lincoln had triumphed. 

Lincoln, to satisfy a few fault-finders in the North, 
went to Grant's headquarters and met some Con- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 5/ 

federate commissioners. He urged that it was hardly- 
proper for him to negotiate with the representatives 
of rebels in arms — that if the South wanted peace, 
all they had to do was to stop fighting. One of the 
commissioners cited as a precedent the fact that 
Charles the First negotiated with rebels in arms. 
To which Lincoln replied that Charles the First lost 
his head. 

The conference came to nothing, as Mr. Lincoln 
expected. 

The commissioners, one of them being Alexander 
H. Stephens, who, when in good health, weighed 
about ninety pounds, dined with the President and 
Gen. Grant. After dinner, as they were leaving, 
Stephens put on an English ulster, the tails of which 
reached the ground, while the collar was somewhat 
above the wearer's head. 

As Stephens went out, Lincoln touched Grant and 
said : " Grant, look at Stephens. Did you ever see 
as little a nubbin with as much shuck ? " 

Lincoln always tried to do things in the easiest 
way. He did not waste his strength. He was not 
particular about moving along straight lines. He 
did not tunnel the mountains. He was willing to go 
around, and reach the end desired as a river reaches 
the sea. 



XI. 



/^\NE of the most wonderful things ever done by 
^-^ Lincoln was the promotion of General Hooker. 
After the battle of Fredericksburg, General Burnside 
found great fault with Hooker, and wished to have 
him removed from the Army of the Potomac. Lin- 
coln disapproved of Burnside's order, and gave 
Hooker the command. He then wrote Hooker this 
memorable letter : 

' ' I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Poto- 
mac. Of course I have done this upon what appears to me to 
be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know 
that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite 
satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skillful 
soldier — which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not 
mix politics with your profession — in which you are right. 
You have confidence — which is a valuable, if not an indispen- 
sable, quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable 
bounds, does good rather than harm ; but I think that during 
General Burnside's command of the army you have taken 
counsel of your ambition to thwart him as much as you could — 
in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a most 
meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in 
such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both 
the army and the Government needed a dictator. Of course it 

was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you com- 

(158) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. l5o 

mand. Only those generals who gain successes can set up 
dictators. What I now ask of you is military successes, and I 
will risk the dictatorship. The Government will support you 
to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than 
it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that 
the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the army, of 
criticising their commander and withholding confidence in him, 
will now turn upon you. I shall assist you, so far as I can, to 
put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive, can 
get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. 
And now beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with 
energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories." 

This letter has, in my judgment, no parallel. The 
mistaken magnanimity is almost equal to the 
prophecy : 

" I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse 
into the army, of criticising their command and withholding 
confidence in him, will now turn upon you." 

Chancellorsville was the fulfillment. 

XII. 

IV /\R. LINCOLN was a statesman. The great 
stumbling-block — the great obstruction — in 
Lincoln's way, and in the way of thousands, was the 
old doctrine of States Rio-hts. 

This doctrine was first established to protect 
slavery. It was clung to to protect the inter-State 



l6o ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

slave trade. It became sacred in connection with 
the Fugitive Slave Law, and it was finally used as 
the corner-stone of Secession. 

This doctrine was never appealed to in defence of 
the right — always in support of the wrong. For 
many years politicians upon both sides of this ques- 
tion endeavored to express the exact relations ex- 
isting between the- Federal Government and the 
States, and I know of no one who succeeded, except 
Lincoln. In his message of 1861, delivered on July 
the 4th, the definition is given, and it is perfect : 

"Whatever concerns the whole should be confided to the 
whole — to the General Government. Whatever concerns only 
the State should be left exclusively to the State." 

When that definition is realized in practice, this 
country becomes a Nation. Then we shall know 
that the first allegiance of the citizen is not to his 
State, but to the Republic, and that the first duty of 
the Republic is to protect the citizen, not only when 
in other lands, but at home, and that this duty can- 
not be discharged by delegating it to the States. 

Lincoln believed in the sovereignty of the people 
— in the supremacy of the Nation — in the territorial 
integrity of the Republic. 



XIII. 

A GREAT actor can be known only when he has 
'**• assumed the principal character in a great 
drama. Possibly the greatest actors have never ap- 
peared, and it may be that the greatest soldiers have 
lived the lives of perfect peace. Lincoln assumed 
the leading part in the greatest drama ever enacted 
upon the stage of this continent. 

His criticisms of military movements, his corre- 
spondence with his generals and others on the con- 
duct of the war, show that he was at all times master 
of the situation — that he was a natural strategist, 
that he appreciated the difficulties and advantages 
of every kind, and that in " the still and mental " 
field of war he stood the peer of any man beneath 
the flag. 

Had McClellan followed his advice, he would 
have taken Richmond. 

Had Hooker acted in accordance with his sugges- 
tions, Chancellorsville would have been a victory for 
the Nation. 

Lincoln's political prophecies were all fulfilled. 

We know now that he not only stood at the top, 
but that he occupied the centre, from first to last, 

(161) 



\£>2 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

and that he did this by reason of his intelligence, 
his humor, his philosophy, his courage and his 
patriotism. 

In passion's storm he stood, unmoved, patient, just 
and candid. In his brain there was no cloud, and in 
his heart no hate. He longed to save the South as 
well as North, to see the Nation one and free. 

He lived until the end was known. 

He lived until the Confederacy was dead — until 
Lee surrendered, until Davis fled, until the doors of 
Libby Prison were opened, until the Republic was 
supreme. 

He lived until Lincoln and Liberty were united 
forever. 

He lived to cross the desert — to reach the palms 
of victory — to hear the murmured music of the wel- 
come waves. 

He lived until all loyal hearts were his — until the 
history of his deeds made music in the souls of men 
— until he knew that on Columbia's Calendar of 
worth and fame his name stood first. 

He lived until there remained nothing for him to 
do as Qfreat as he had done. 

What he did was worth living for, worth dying for. 

He lived until he stood in the midst of universal 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 63 

joy, beneath the outstretched wings of Peace — the 
foremost man in all the world. 

And then the horror came. Night fell on noon. 
The Savior of the Republic, the breaker of chains, 
the liberator of millions, he who had " assured free- 
dom to the free," was dead. 

Upon his brow Fame placed the immortal wreath, 
and for the first time in the history of the world a 
Nation bowed and wept. 

The memory of Lincoln is the strongest, tenderest 
tie that binds all hearts together now, and holds all 
States beneath a Nation's flag. 

XIV. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN — strange mingling of 
** mirth and tears, of the tragic and grotesque, 
of cap and crown, of Socrates and Democritus, of 
^Esop and Marcus Aurelius, of all that is gentle and 
just, humorous and honest, merciful, wise, laughable, 
lovable and divine, and all consecrated to the use of 
man ; while through all, and over all, were an over- 
whelming sense of obligation, of chivalric loyalty to 
truth, and upon all, the shadow of the tragic end. 
Nearly all the great historic characters are impos- 



164 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

sible monsters, disproportioned by flattery, or by 
calumny deformed. We know nothing of their 
peculiarities, or nothing but their peculiarities. 
About these oaks there clings none of the earth of 
humanity. 

Washington is now only a steel engraving. About 
the real man who lived and loved and hated and 
schemed, we know but little. The glass through 
which we look at him is of such high magnifying 
power that the features are exceedingly indistinct. 

Hundreds of people are now engaged in smooth- 
ing out the lines of Lincoln's face — forcing all 
features to the common mould — so that he may be 
known, not as he really was, but, according to their 
poor standard, as he should have been. 

Lincoln was not a type. He stands alone — no 
ancestors, no fellows, and no successors. 

He had the advantage of living in a new country, 
of social equality, of personal freedom, of seeing in 
the horizon of his future the perpetual star of hope. 
He preserved his individuality and his self-respect. 
He knew and mingled with men of every kind ; 
and, after all, men are the best books. He became 
acquainted with the ambitions and hopes of the 
heart, the means used to accomplish ends, the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



105 



springs of action and the seeds of thought. He was 
familiar with nature, with actual things, with com- 
mon facts. He loved and appreciated the poem of 
the year, the drama of the seasons. 

In a new country a man must possess at least 
three virtues — honesty, courage and generosity. 
In cultivated society, cultivation is often more im- 
portant than soil. A well-executed counterfeit 
passes more readily than a blurred genuine. It is 
necessary only to observe the unwritten laws of 
society — to be honest enough to keep out of prison, 
and generous enough to subscribe in public — where 
the subscription can be defended as an investment. 

In a new country, character is essential ; in the 
old, reputation is sufficient. In the new, they find 
what a man really is ; in the old, he generally passes 
for what he resembles. People separated only by 
distance are much nearer together, than those divided 
by the walls of caste. 

It is no advantage to live in a great city, where 
poverty degrades and failure brings despair. The 
fields are lovelier than paved streets, and the great 
forests than walls of brick. Oaks and elms are more 
poetic than steeples and chimneys. 

In the country is the idea of home. There you 



i66 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



see the rising and setting sun ; you become ac- 
quainted with the stars and clouds. The constella- 
tions are your friends. You hear the rain on the 
roof and listen to the rhythmic sighing of the winds. 
You are thrilled by the resurrection called Spring, 
touched and saddened by Autumn — the grace and 
poetry of death. Every field is a picture, a land- 
scape ; every landscape a poem ; every flower a 
tender thought, and every forest a fairy-land. In 
the country you preserve your identity — your per- 
sonality. There you are an aggregation of atoms, 
but in the city you are only an atom of an aggrega- 
tion. 

In the country you keep your cheek close to the 
breast of Nature. You are calmed and ennobled by 
the space, the amplitude and scope of earth and sky 
— by the constancy of the stars. 

Lincoln never finished his education. To the 
night of his death he was a pupil, a learner, an 
inquirer, a seeker after knowledge. You have no 
idea how many men are spoiled by what is called 
education. For the most part, colleges are places 
where pebbles are polished and diamonds are 
dimmed. If Shakespeare had graduated at Oxford, 
he might have been a quibbling attorney, or a hypo- 
critical parson. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 67 

Lincoln was a great lawyer. There is nothing 
shrewder in this world than intelligent honesty. 
Perfect candor is sword and shield. 

He understood the nature of man. As a lawyer 
he endeavored to get at the truth, at the very heart 
of a case. He was not willing even to deceive him- 
self. No matter what his interest said, what his 
passion demanded, he was great enough to find the 
truth and strong enough to pronounce judgment 
against his own desires. 

Lincoln was a many-sided man, acquainted with 
smiles and tears, complex in brain, single in heart, 
direct as light ; and his words, candid as mirrors, 
gave the perfect image of his thought. He was 
never afraid to ask — never too dignified to admit 
that he did not know. No man had keener wit, or 
kinder humor. 

It may be that humor is the pilot of reason. 
People without humor drift unconsciously into ab- 
surdity. Humor sees the other side — stands in the 
mind like a spectator, a good-natured critic, and 
gives its opinion before judgment is reached. Humor 
goes with good nature, and good nature is the 
climate of reason. In anger, reason abdicates and 
malice extinguishes the torch. Such was the humor 



1 68 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

of Lincoln that he could tell even unpleasant truths 
as charmingly as most men can tell the things we 
wish to hear. 

He was not solemn. Solemnity is a mask worn 
by ignorance and hypocrisy — it is the preface, pro- 
logue, and index to the cunning or the stupid. 

He was natural in his life and thought — ■ master 
of the story-teller's art, in illustration apt, in applica- 
tion perfect, liberal in speech, shocking Pharisees 
and prudes, using any word that wit could disinfect. 

He was a logician. His logic shed light. In its 
presence the obscure became luminous, and the 
most complex and intricate political and metaphysi- 
cal knots seemed to untie themselves. Logic is the 
necessary product of intelligence and sincerity. It 
cannot be learned. It is the child of a clear head 
and a good heart. 

Lincoln was candid, and with candor often de- 
ceived the deceitful. He had intellect without arro- 
gance, genius without pride, and religion without 
cant — that is to say, without bigotry and without 
deceit. 

He was an orator — clear, sincere, natural. He 
did not pretend. He did not say what he thought 
others thought, but what he thought. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 169 

If you wish to be sublime you must be natural — 
you must keep close to the grass. You must sit by 
the fireside of the heart ; above the clouds it is too 
cold. You must be simple in your speech ; too 
much polish suggests insincerity. 

The great orator idealizes the real, transfigures the 
common, makes even the inanimate throb and thrill, 
fills the gallery of the imagination with statues and 
pictures perfect in form and color, brings to light the 
gold hoarded by memory the miser, shows the glit- 
tering coin to the spendthrift hope, enriches the 
brain, ennobles the heart, and quickens the con- 
science. Between his lips words bud and blossom. 

If you wish to know the difference between an 
orator and an elocutionist — between what is felt and 
what is said — between what the heart and brain can 
do together and what the brain can do alone — read 
Lincoln's wondrous speech at Gettysburg, and then 
the oration of Edward Everett. 

The speech of Lincoln will never be forgotten. 
It will live until languages are dead and lips are 
dust. The oration of Everett will never be read. 

The elocutionists believe in the virtue of voice, 
the sublimity of syntax, the majesty of long sen- 
tences, and the genius of gesture. 



17° ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

The orator loves the real, the simple, the natural. 
He places the thought above all. He knows that 
the greatest ideas should be expressed in the short- 
est words — that the greatest statues need the least 
drapery. 

Lincoln was an immense personality — firm but not 
obstinate. Obstinacy is egotism — firmness, heroism. 
He influenced others without effort, unconsciously ; 
and they submitted to him as men submit to nature 
— unconsciously. He was severe with himself, and 
for that reason lenient with others. 

He appeared to apologize for being kinder than 
his fellows. 

He did merciful things as stealthily as others com- 
mitted crimes. 

Almost ashamed of tenderness, he said and did the 
noblest words and deeds with that charming con- 
fusion, that awkwardness, that is the perfect grace of 
modesty. 

As a noble man, wishing to pay a small debt to a 
poor neighbor, reluctantly offers a hundred-dollar 
bill and asks for change, fearing that he may be sus- 
pected either of making a display of wealth or a pre- 
tence of payment, so Lincoln hesitated to show his 
wealth of goodness, even to the best he knew. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I/ 1 

A great man stooping, not wishing to make his 
fellows feel that they were small or mean. 

By his candor, by his kindness, by his perfect 
freedom from restraint, by saying what he thought, 
and saying it absolutely in his own way, he made it 
not only possible, but popular, to be natural. He 
was the enemy of mock solemnity, of the stupidly 
respectable, of the cold and formal. 

He wore no official robes either on his body or his 
soul. He never pretended to be more or less, or 
other, or different, from what he really was. 

He had the unconscious naturalness of Nature's 
self. 

He built upon the rock. The foundation was se- 
cure and broad. The structure was a pyramid, 
narrowing as it rose. Through days and nights of 
sorrow, through years of grief and pain, with un- 
swerving purpose, " with malice towards none, with 
charity for all," with infinite patience, with unclouded 
vision, he hoped and toiled. Stone after stone was 
laid, until at last the Proclamation found its place. 
On that the Goddess stands. 

He knew others, because perfectly acquainted 
with himself. He cared nothing for place, but every- 
thing for principle ; little for money, but every- 



I 72 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

thing ibr independence. Where no principle was 
involved, easily swayed — willing to go slowly, if in 
the right direction — sometimes willing to stop ; but 
he would not go back, and he would not go wrong. 

He was willing to wait. He knew that the event 
was not waiting, and that fate was not the fool of 
chance. He knew that slavery had defenders, but 
no defence, and that they who attack the right must 
wound themselves. 

He was neither tyrant nor slave. He neither 
knelt nor scorned. 

With him, men were neither great nor small — 
they were right or wrong. 

Through manners, clothes, titles, rags and race he 
saw the real— that which is. Beyond accident, 
policy, compromise and war he saw the end. 

He was patient as Destiny, whose undecipherable 
hieroglyphs were so deeply graven on his sad and 
tragic face. 

Nothing discloses real character like the use of 
power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most 
people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know 
what a man really is, give him power. This is the 
supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having 
almost absolute power, he never abused it, except 
on the side of mercy. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 73 

Wealth could not purchase, power could not awe, 
this divine, this loving man. 

He knew no fear except the fear of doing wrong. 
Hating slavery, pitying the master — seeking to 
conquer, not persons, but prejudices — he was the 
embodiment of the self-denial, the courage, the hope 
and the nobility of a Nation. 

He spoke not to inflame, not to upbraid, but to 
convince. 

He raised his hands, not to strike, but in bene- 
diction. 

He longed to pardon. 

He loved to see the pearls of joy on the cheeks of 
a wife whose husband he had rescued from death. 

Lincoln was the grandest figure of the fiercest 
civil war. He is the gentlest memory of our 
world. 



Writings of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 

A NEW AND COMPLETE EDITION OF 

Col. Robert G. Ingersoll's 

WORKS. 

Known as the DRESDEN EDITION, in twelve octavo vol- 
umes handsomely ilhistrated, with photogravures, etchings, 
facsimiles and half-tones. Published with the authority 
and supervision of the family from his manu- 
scripts, notes, and literary memoratida. 



COMPLETE INDEX TO ALL THE VOLUMES AND TABLE OF 
CONTENTS TO EACH VOLUME. 



The Only Authorized and Complete Edition of 
Colonel Ingersoll's Works. 

THIS Edition of the writings of Robert G. Ingersoll justifies its de- 
scription as "complete." Besides including all of Col. Ingersoll's 
famous lectures, addresses and orations already issued in book or 
pamphlet form, the volumes contain some thousands of pages of 
matter not hitherto published. Among his inedited writings, now 
first appearing, may be mentioned the author's first lecture, entitled 
" Progress," delivered in i860 ; the lectures on "Robert Burns," 
"The Great Infidels," "My Reviewers Reviewed ;" an answer to 
the Rev. Lyman Abbott's article, " Flaws in Ingersollism," published 
in the North American Review ; an answer to Archdeacon Farrar's 
article, "A Few Words on Colonel Ingersoll," published in the same 
magazine ; an answer to the Dean of St. Paul's article on " Cruelty; " 
many new pages on Divorce, after-dinner Speeches, Magazine articles 
on the Chinese Question ; essays on Art and Morality, "Three Phil- 
anthropists," "Is Avarice Triumphant?" "Some Interrogation 
Points" (on the Labor Question); Prefaces, Tributes, Fragments, 
etc., etc. 

The whole of one volume is devoted to Interviews, which cover a 
multitude of subjects, and indeed leave hardly any topic of interest 
untouched. The earlier Interviews dealt largely with Colonel Inger- 
soll's clerical critics and with theological subjects ; but the scope of 
inquiry was gradually expanded to include political, economic and 
social questions, until at length his opinion came to be solicited on 
whatever might be uppermost for the time in the public mind, whether 
it were an election, a race problem, finance, woman suffrage, marriage 
and divorce, Socialism, Labor, Prohibition, protection or free trade. 
The press discovered that he had valuable ideas on art, music, the 
drama, literature, oratory, and allied subjects ; and what he had to 
say about them occupies many hundreds of pages. 

From his ability in other fields it may be judged how illuminating 
were Colonel Ingersoll's expositions of the law, how complete his 
mastery of the details of a case, how convincing his arguments, and 



g. C. P. Farrell, Publisher, New York. 

how effective his addresses to court and jury. The Legal Volum« 
contains his noted speeches in the Star Route Trials, in the Davis 
Will Case, in the Munn Trial (from which his universally quoted 
Temperance Speech is taken)* and his last public address, delivered 
in the Russell Will Case before Vice-Chancellor Grey at Camden, 
New Jersey. 

The Patriotic and Political addresses of Colonel Ingersoll ire here 
for the first time gathered between covers. They contain utterances 
from which the fires of patriotism will be ever fed or renewed, and 
discuss issues that will appear in every campaign while the Nation 
remains a Republic. Some of them — the Decoration Day Orations, 
the Soldiers' Reunion Address, the Vision of War — are classics. 
The Campaign Speeches are models of argument, appeal — and ridi- 
cule. Colonel Ingersoll's political deliverances as a whole disclose 
the softening influence of time and thought on a great mind from the 
" nine o'clock in the morning" to the afternoon oflife. 

The matter given precedence in the Dresden Edition as might be 
foreseen, comprises the author's great lectures on the Bible and the 
Christian Religion and his discussions with theologians, amateur and 
professional. Among his opponents were the Rt. Hon. W. E. 
Gladstone, Cardinal Manning, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, and the 
Rev. Henry M. Field, whose defences of their faith are given in full. 
It is doubted that Colonel Ingersoll's Replies will be found in the 
published writings of those authors. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

There are fifteen Pictures and two fac-simile reproductions of Colonel 
Ingersoll's manuscript. As a frontispiece for Volume I. a photograv- 
ure of the author has been prepared from a photograph taken in 1890. 
This faces a picture, on the engraved title page, of the Birthplace of 
Robert G. Ingersoll at Dresden, New York. 

In Volume II. is an etched engraving of Attorney-General Ingersoll 
of Illinois, showing the Author as he appeared in 1868, when holding 
the office indicated. 

Volume III. contains the well-known standing portrait of 1890. a 
photogravure. In the same binding is a manuscript fac-simile of the 
poem, "The Birthplace of Burns," written in the Burns cottage at 
Ayr, August 19. 1878. 

The photogravure frontispiece of the fourth volume is from 1897, a 
profile, taken when the hand of time was feeling for the tardy furrows 
in cheek and brow. 

In Volume V. we again have the orator represented in his prime, 
(1877) standing at ease with left hand pocketed. This is a fine half- 
tone, and there is another in profile taken in 1884. 

The favorite 1876 picture, in which the artist returns to the photo- 
gravure process, ornaments the sixth division — the book of Dis- 
cussions. 

Volume VII. presents the interior of " Chatham Street Theatre, 
where Robert G. Ingersoll was Baptized in 1836" — a view that is full 
of interest considering the infant's subsequent career. 

" With daughter's babes upon his knees, the white hair mingling 
with the gold," the Author is shown in the photogravure preceding 
the title page of Volume VIII., the only group in the series. The 
picture fulfills the words. 

Ingersoll with mustache and imperial, and wearing the epaulets 
of his colonelcy, is brought before us in unaccustomed guise by the 
photogravure frontispiece of Vol. IX. The picture was taken in 1862, 
when he was commanding officer of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry. 



Catalogue of Robert G. IngersoWs Works. 3 

Again in age the iconoclast and builder looks out from the initial 
page of the succeeding volume — No. X. — wherein appear his ex- 
positions of the law. It is an 1897 portrait, in photogravure. 

For the illustration of Vol. XI. the publisher has secured two views, 
north and west, of Walston, at Dobbs Ferry-on-Hudson. Here in 
summer lived the great humanitarian, and here he received that last 
visitor, who came that we might have in the closing volume the final 
pictures, " After Death" and the Urn that holds the ashes while the 
heart preserves the memory of Robert G. Ingersoll. 

A letter written July 20, 1899, 1S reproduced in fac-simile. It was 
the writer's last, and dealt with Cuban and Philippine affairs. 

Every photogravure portrait is printed by hand on Japanese vellum 
paper. 

Colonel Ingersoll's admirers will derive pleasure and information 
from the many notes, consisting for the most part of newspaper re- 
ports, attached to the public addresses, descriptive of the occasions 
when they were delivered and of the enthusiasm with which they 
were received. Some of those occasions — as the convention where 
was made the stirring speech nominating James G. Blaine for the 
Presidency, and the meeting where Henry Ward Beecher introduced 
Ingersoll as the most brilliant speaker of the English language on 
the globe — have become historic, and their story is here fittingly 
preserved. The notes are frequent and copious, and, bringing the 
reader as they do into the immediate presence of the events they 
record, are of the highest importance and value. 

Notice is attracted to the full Contents and elaborate Index of this 
edition. These useful adjuncts have been prepared not only at the 
expense of that labor and time necessary to all such compilations, but 
with an intelligent appreciation of the needs of those who would con- 
sult the writings of this Author. The Index is not the " hack-work " 
of a professional indexer satisfied to jot down proper names and t© 
note their recurrence with volume and page. Here matter explana- 
tory of each reference is given where its importance warrants, and 
the reader may find that for which he seeks without opening any other 
volume than the one containing it. Our Index embraces the titles of 
lectures, speeches, interviews and discussions, with their contents, 
the principal words of such titles being likewise ended in alphabetical 
order, with references to heads under which the subject is treated 
at length. Approaching the fullness of a concordance, the compila- 
tion is complete without being cryptic, and is in fact what it has been 
said every index should be to the searcher — " a guide, philosopher 
and friend." The character of the contents is shown by specimen 
pages in this Circular. 

The twelve volumes contain nearly seven thousand pages, printed 
in large type, on finest of laid rag paper, wide margins, gilt top, 
uncut edges, and bound library style, in olive silk cloth, (Colonel 
Ingersoll's favorite color), gold back titles. Packed in a neat 
wooden box, ready for shipment. 



8®* SOLD ONLY IN SETS. 3 ®! 



Gems of Eloquence and Beauty from 
the Immortal IngersolL 

A VISION OF WART" 

m\ DMITTED by all to be the mast marvelous piece of patriotic word painting 
L\ that ever issued from the lips of man. Printed on 15 leaves, (10 r Hi,) 13 
il of which are exqusitely illustrated in colors by the well-known artist, 
Mr. Harry A. Ogden, whose reputation is unequaled in work of this description . 
Mr. Ogden was employed by the Government to illustrate the celebrated work on 
the Historical Uniforms of the U. 8. Army, and is at present on the staff of 
Harper's, Scribner's, and the Century Magazines. The title page is embellished 
by two handsome portraits of Col. Ingersoll,— one as the soldier, taken in 1862, 
as Colonel of the 11th Illinois Cavalry, and the other as the lawyer and orator in 
1877. The leaves are fastened together by ribbons in the national colors. Every 
patriot— every lover of liberty should possess this incomparable production. 

Price, postpaid, $1 .OO. 
LIFE* A Prose Poem by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 

This world-famous Monograph is without its peer in literature. It is a gem 
withour a flaw. . 

The engraver's and printer's art have blended strength and beauty in their 
work, faithfully producing the dual portrait, and entwining a wild rose border 
about it and the text, making altogether an exquisite work of art, suitable for 
elegant frame, for parlor, easel or mantel. 

Printed and lithographed in color and signed in autograph fac-simile on 
heavy card board, size 1% x 16 inches. 

Sent by mail, carefully wrapped, on receipt of price, 50c. 
"LO VE* f A Prose Poem by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 

Printed upon heavy card paper, with a photograph of the author and his 
grandchildren and a handsome bunch of flowers in colors. To the selection is 
appended a fac-simile of the signature of Colonel Inoersoll, Liberals will 
■?ant this picture for framing. It is the work of an artist at photograph and color 
minting, and the effect is striking and beautiful. Size, 12 x 16. Price, 50 cts. 

THE CREED OF SCIENCE. 

Generally called " IVIY RELIGION." Printed on heavy enameled 
card, illustrated. A companion piece to LIKE. Price, 50 cts. 

The Declaration of the Free 

Col. Ingersoll's last Poem. Same size and style, illustrated. Price, 50c. 

Every Liberal ought to have these four framed and hanging on his parlor 
walls. They are magnificent expressions of Freethought, and will be silent mis- 
sionaries, yet always teaching. They are printed in such a handsome manner as 
to ornament any place. 

SPECIAL TO PRIVATE BUYERS. 

In order that these wonderful gems from the master mind of the nineteenth 
century mav find a place on the wails or tables of every patriotic, liberty-loving 
American, I have concluded to make a cut-rate on the five prints, viz.;— Vision 
of War— Love— Life— The Creed of Science— Declaration of the Free— so 
as to come within the reach of all. They can be had for the paltry sum of $1.50, 
express paid when sent to one address. Liberals desiring to get them by the 
hundred, will be given a very low figure. These prices can be had only by ap- 
plying direct to the publisher. Remember you are getting $3.00 worth for $1.50 

Address, C. P. FARRELL, 117 East 21st St., N. Y. City. 



A. Grand Book : as interesting and entertaining as any novet . 



INGERSOLL'S 

Intefviews on la Image 

These Interviews were called out in answer to a series of 
theological discourses by Mr. Talmage. Three of them were 
originally given to a reporter of the daily press, but were after- 
wards revised and enlarged and three others added. The three 
newspaper reports being immediately pirated by so-called enter- 
prising but unprincipled publishers, were put upon the market in 
flimsy paper covers and heralded as the genuine " Ingersoll In- 
terviews." It is sufficient to say that in no other shape than the 
present complete volume are these " Interviews " to be had in 
their accurate and authorized entirety. 

As to the subject-matter it is essentially polemical, although 
not bitterly so. The foolish as well as serious phases of theo- 
logical ignorance and assumption are exposed to merited ridicule, 
and the weapons of good-natured wit and sarcasm are employed 
to laugh and shame religious superstition and arrogance out of 
court. In the " Talmagian Catechism " especially, which sums 
up the six interviews, are shafts of wit and satire as keen and 
polished as ever sped from human brain. They go straight to the 
mark, and remind one of Voltaire's pointed though not poisoned 
"UTews aimed at the priestly pretensions of his day. In the 
ot3«j*w- «"-d oqore serious statements and arguments, the facts and 
ngures are splendidly marshalled and bear down with resistless 
~yrm upon die theological foe, breaking his ranks and scattering 
his forces like chaff before a gale. 

There is not in literature another such book. It is a free- 
bought library in itself, and especially timely just now when 
bibles and creeds are being overhauled and "revision and divis- 
ion are in the air." No collection of Mr. Ingersoll's books is 
complete that does not include this in some respects his most 
remarkable work. 

A handsome 8°, 443 pages, gilt top, beveled edges, good paper, 
bold type, $2.00. From same plates, plain cloth, $1.25. Paper, 
50c. Sent post-paid upon receipt of price. 

C P. FARRELL, Publisher, New York. 



WORKS OK 

Col. Robert G. Ingersoll 



All books marked with a star are mailable as 
second-class matter. 

*Abraham Lincoln. A Lecture. With Century portrait of the martyr 
President 25 cents. 

*AbOUt the Holy Bible. A Lecture 25cents. 

A Few Reasons for Doubting the Inspiration of 

the Bible. From manuscript notes found among Col. Ingersoll's papers.. ..10c. 

A Thanksgiving Sermon. Book contains also a tribute to 

HENRY WARD BEECHER. "I thank," says Ingersoll, " the heroes, the 
apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of freedom— the heroes 
who held high the holy torch and filled the world with light.' ' 25 cents. 

ress before the New York Unitarian Club. 

In "Ingersoll to the Clergy." 25 cents. 

*feMaSpheiTiy. Argument in the Trial of C. B. Reynolds, at Morristown, 
N.J Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents. 

Bible Idolatry, (Tract) 3 cents. 

Bible not a Mora! Guide, (Tract.) scents. 

Brooklyn Divines (To the.) in "ingersoll to the clergy."..26c 

Ot*eed Of Science. Printed on heavy enameled card; illustrated. L 
companion piece to Life 50 cents. 

^Christian Religion (The.) A Discussion between Col. Ingersoll 
and Judge Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania Cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 25 cte. 

^Crimes Against Criminals. A Speech delivered before the 
New York State Bar Association 16 cents. 

Declaration of Independence and Vision of War.— 

Centennial Oration, and the famous passage from Colonel Ingersoll's cpeech at 
the Soldiers' Reunion, at Indianapolis in 1876, called ' ' A Vision of War.". ..10c. 

Declaration Of the Free. Colonel Ingersoll's last poem. Onboard, 
handsomely illustrated, size 12>4 x 16, (for mantel, wall or easel.) 50 cents. 

* Devil (The.) A lecture, (1899.) "If the Devil should die, would God 

make another? 1 ' 25 cents. 

* ^SSayS and Criticisms. Contents: Why am I an Agnostic? 

cJuxley and Agnosticism; Ernest Renan; Count Tolstoy and the Kreutzer 
Honata Cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 25 cents. 

* Foundations Of Faith. This lecture contains Colonel Ingersoll's 

lamous " Creed of Science."..... 25 cents. 

Freethought: Is it Destructive or Constructive? 

A Symposium by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll and the other famous Freethinkers o 
this country, England, and Canada. A most successful effort to analyze th 
philosophy and tendency of Freethought 25 cent* 

v^aith that Surely Wanes. This is coionei ingersoll's commen. 

Mryon the Fast Day Proclamation of Governor Rollins of New Hampshire, 
Which caused a wide discussion on the vanishing belief and influence of 
Sbnstianity. (Trect.) «~» 4 -%pts 



C. P. Farrell, Publisher, New York. 

*Field-2ngerSOn DiSCUSSion. From the North American R* 
view Cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 25 cents 

Gods and other Lectures (The.) comprising the Gods, Hum 

boldt, Thomas Paine, Individuality, Heretics and Heresies. 253 pages. Cloth, 
$1.00; paper 50 cents, 

Ghosts and other Lectures (The.) including the Ghosts, 

Liberty of Man, Woman and Child; The Declaration of Independence, About 
Farming in Illinois, Speech Nominating James G. Blaine for Presidency in 
1876, the Grant Banquet, A Tribute to Rev. Alex. Clark, A Vision of War, and 
a Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll. 252 pages. Cloth. $1.00 ; paper 50 cents. 

God in the Constitution 

Also in "Ingersoll to the Clergy." 25 cents. 

Gold Speech- Delivered in the McKinley Campaign of 1896. Only a few 
left .„. 

* Great Ingersoll Controversy (The.) containing the Fa- 

mous Christmas Sermon, by Col. R. G. Ingersoll, the indignant protests 
thereby evoked from ministers of various denominations, and Colonel Iiiger- 
soil's replies to the same 25 cents. 

HOW tO Reform Mankind* An address delivered before the Mil- 
itant Church, at the Columbia Theatre, Chicago, April 12, 1896, (with por- 
trait.) 25 cents. 

Hard Times and the Way Out. oniyafewieft iscents. 

* IngerSOll as He IS. The truth about the Life, Works, and Character 

ofCol. R. G. Ingersoll, with a refutation of the baseless and false calumnies, 
libels, and slanders invented and circulated by the clergy of the United States 
and elsewnere. The work covers the career of Colonel Ingersoll in War, Pol- 
itics, and Private and Public Life. It disproves all the statements con- 
tained in the slanders of his clerical vilifiers. The Third Edition is supplied 
with an appendix of 46 pages containing a refutation and disproof of the cler- 
ical and other falsehoods inspired by religious malice which have appeared 
since the previous edition was printed; together with the testimony of his fellow 
townsmen of Peoria and of his army comrades as to Colonel Ingersoll's charac- 
ter as a citizen and his bearing as a soldier. This work, giving date of Colonei 
Ingersoll's birth and death, with many incidents in his career, affords more 
biographical matter than is elsewhere to be obtained. It is fully indexed, en- 
abling the inquirer to turn at once to any subject or the name of any person 
mentioned in either the body of the book or the appendix. Compiled with the 
approval and assistance of the family of Colonel Ingersoll. 196 pages. Cloth, 
50 cents ; paper 25 cents 

Indianapolis Clergymen (To the.) in "ingersoll to the 

Clergy." 

*!ngersoll-Gladstone Controversy, wm. e. Gladstones 

article and Colonel Ingersoll's Reply. From the North American Review. 
Cloth, 50 cents; paper 25 cents. 

IngerSOll Catechised. An interview, (Tract) ..Scents. 

IngerSOll On McGlynn. An interview, (Tract) Scents. 

IngerSOll SoUVenir SpOOn. Heavy sterling silver. Most artistic 
spoon in the market, only $2.00. Orange spoons, $2.50; sugar spoons, $3 00; 
gilt bowl 50cts. extra. 

IngerSOll Paper Weights. Glass weight. 2x4 inches, containing 
Photograph of Col. R. G. Ingersoll. Sent by mail or express prepaid for 50 cts. 

* Interviews On Talmage. Being six interviews with the Famous 

Orator on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt lalmage of Brooklyn, to which is 
added a Talmagian Catechism. 474 pages " paper, 50 cents. 

* IngerSOll tO the Clergy. His Answers to their Questions and 
. Criticisms. Replies to the Indianapolis and Brooklyn Ministers. Address be - 

fore the Unitarian Club, Address on Thomas Paine, and a paper on God in the 
Constitution 25 cents 



Catalogue of Robert G. IngersoWs Works. 

IngerSOll the Man. The Great Orator as he was known to those *&• 
lived near to hirn. By Clarence S. Brown, Colonel Ingersoll's legal associate. 
(Tract.) Scents. 

*Is Suicide a Sin ? Colonel Ingersoll's Famous Letters and Replied 
from eminent men, with "Great Suicides of History" and Schopenhauer's 
Essay 25 cents. 

Lay Sermon on the Labor Question scents. 

* Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman. An ad- 

dress delivered in Philadelphia, Oct. 21, 1890, with portrait of Whitman. 
Containing also Colonel Ingersoll's address at the Funeral of Walt Whitman, 
March30, 1892 Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents. 

* Liberty for Man, Woman and Child. Has a fine photo- 

engraving of the Colonel and both his grandchildren, Eva and Robert ; also the 
TRIBUTE TO HIS BROTHER 25cents. 

Limitations Of Toleration. A Discussion betweeen Col. R. G. 
Ingersoll, the Hon. Frederick R. Coudert, and Ex-Gov. Stewart L. Woodford, 
before the Nineteenth Century Club 10 cents. 

Lectures in One Volume. Contents: The Gods; Humboldt; In- 
dividuality ; Thomas Paine ; Heretics and Heresies ; The Ghosts ; The Liberty 
of Man, Woman and Child; The Centennial Oration, or Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, July 4, 1876. What I Know About Farming in Illinois ; Speech at 
. Cincinnati in 1876, nominating James G. Blaine for the Presidency; The Past 
"52 Rises Before Me, or a Vision of War, an extract from a Speech made at the 
•£ Soldiers' and Sailors' Reunion at Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 21, 1876 ; A Tribute 
^ to Ebon C. Ingersoll ; The Grant Banquet; Crimes Against Criminals ; Tribute 
/"*< to the Rev. Alexander Clark ; Some Mistakes of Moses ; What Must we do to 
^> be Saved ? Blasphemy, Argument in the trial of C. B. Reynolds ; Six Interviews 
.. with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D., 
;$ to which are added a Talmagian Catechism and four Prefaces. Containing a 
^ fine steel engraving, with autograph fac-simile of the author. This volume has 
had the greatest popularity, is beautifully bound in half morocco, mottled 
edges, 1431 pages, good paper, large type. Octavo, half morocco, $5.00 ; cloth, 
$3.50; sheep $5.00 

Life. A Prose-Poem. This world-famous monograph is without its peer in 
literature. It is a gem without a flaw The engraver's and printer's art have 
blended strength and beauty in their work, faithfully producing the dual por- 
trait, and entwining a wild-rose border about it and the text, making alto- 
gether au exquisite work of art, suitable for elegant frame, for parlor, easel or 
mantel. This elegant panel is printed and lithographed in color, and signed in 
autograph fac-simile on heavy card board, size 12j^ x 16 inches. Price 50 cts. 

Lithograph Of R. G. Ingersoll. 22x28 inches, heavy plate 
paper. Life size head and bust ; tinted back ground 60 cents. 

Look Backward and a Prophecy (A.) By r g. ingersoii. 

Being the article he wrote for the Twentv-fifth Anniversary Number of the 
Truth Seeker, (1898.) A most brilliant review of the religious changes of the 
past quarter of a century. (Tract.) 3 cents. 

Love. Colonel Ingersoll's beautiful words on Love. Printed on heavy enam- 
eled jard, illustrated in colors and portraits, companion piece to Life, for fram- 
ing; 50 cents. 

*Myth and Miracle. A Lecture 25cents. 

'""Mistakes Of MoseS (Some.) Contents: Some Mistakes ol 
Moses. Free Schools, The Politicians, Man and Woman, The Pentateuch, Mon- 
day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. He Made the Stars Also, Friday, Satur- 
lay, Let us* Make Man, Sunday, The Necessity for a Good Memory, The 
harden, the Fall, Dampness, Bacchus and Babel, Faith ir> Filth, The Hebrews, 
The Plagues, The Flight, Confess and Avoid, T "spireci Slavery, Marriage, 
War, Religious Liberty, Conclusion. 270 pages 25 cents. 

Orthodoxy. One of Colonel Ingersoll's greatest lectures..... 10 cent* 

Opening Speech to the Jury: in the suit of the b. & m. Te\ 

•> Co. t«. W. U. Tel Co., 1886 15 oents. 



C. P. Far r ell, Publisher, New York. 
Proceedings at Civil Rights Meeting in Washing- 

ton, D. C. Being Speeches of Col. Robert G. Ingersol) and Frederick Douglass 
protesting against the decision of the Supreme Court that the Civil Rights Act 
is unconstitutional..... 1U cents. 

Prose-PoemS and Selections. Revised and greatly enlarged. 
A handsome quarto, containing over 400 pages. Full tree-calf, highest possible 
finish. $9.00; full turkey morocco, gilt, exquisitely fine, $7.50; half morocco, 
gilt edges, $5.00 ; half calf, mottled edges, library style, $4.50. In cloth, bev- 
eled boards, gilt edges, containing steel engraving with autograph fac-simile 
of the author ....$2.50 

A Cheaper Edition from Same Plates, good paper, wide 

margins, cloth $1.50 

Patriotic Speeches: Reunion Address and Decora- 

TioN Day Oration. His address delivered at Elmwood, 111., September 5, 
1895, at the reunion of his old regiment, the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry — also his 
famous Oration delivered on Decoration Day 1883, before the Grand Army of 
the Republic, at the Academy of Music, New York. These two classics are 
published in book form for the first time from revised manuscript, and are the 
only authorized and correct reprints. It also contains a handsome half-tone 
portrait of the Colonel and his little grandson, Robert G. Ingersoll-Brown. 
Printed on good paper, large type, wide margins, in one volume. Cloth 50 
cents. Paper 25 cents 

Photographs Of CoL Robt. G. IngerSOll. Perfect in pose) 
Happy in expression! Faultless in finish I These Pictures almost speak to 
you audibly. You have-»only to imagine the musical, sympathetic voice, the 
fme flashing eye, the glowing countenance, and the whole animated, pulsating 
form, to see and hear the living man and orator before you. The panel size, 
in full length portraiture, is particularly suited for framing, and is commended 
to all the Colonel's admirers as the one eminently fitted for parlor, library or 
drawing-room. Prices: Panel, 54 figure standing 18 x 24 in., §5.00. Panel, full 
figure, sitting in chair, 18x24 in., $5.00. Imperial, 7^x13 in., $1.50. Cabinet, 
4x6 in 50 cents. 

The Latest Portraits of CoSonel Ingersoll, taken by 

Hollinger, in March, 1897, are without doubt the most wonderful examples of 
art-photography ever produced. On account of the great skill and infinite de- 
tail required to work these examples up to this exquisite degree of perfection 
they naturally are expensive. Every admirer of this great man who can afford 
to should secure one of them. The large size % face or full profile, 24x30 in., 
$25.00. The small size % face or full profile, 11 x 14 in.... $5.00 

*I\Ome Or Reason. Discussion between Cardinal Manning and Colonel 
Ingersoll, to which are added the Articles discussing the Question " Is Divorce 
Wrong? " by Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Henry C. Potter, and Colonel Ingersoll. 
Cloth 50 cents. Paper 25 cents. 

^Superstition. A Lecture. (1899) 25 cents. 

*ShakeSpeare. "An Intellectual ocean, whose waves touched all the 
shores of thought." A lecture with likeness of Shakespeare from the Kessel- 
stadt death mask. Cloth 50 cents. Paper. 25 cents. 

*Some ReaSOnS Why. A Lecture. Contents: Some Reasons Why. 
Duties to God. Inspiration. God's Experiment with the Jews. Civilized 
Countries. A comparison of Books. The New Testament. Christ's Mission. 
Eternal Pain 25 cents. 

Stage and Pulpit. An interview with Colonel Ingersoll upon their 
Comparative Merit. (Tract.) 3 cents. 

The Oath Question. (Tract.) 3 cents. 

The Truth. A Lecture 25 cents. 

I ruth of History. Comments on the assertion by an evangelist that 
Colonel Ingersol] had become a Christian, had admitted that Thomas Paiue 
recanted, and that his own children had joined t ho church. (Tract.) i cents. 



Catalogue of Robert G. IngersolVs Works, 

TllOmaS Paine's Vindication. A Reply to the New York Ob "erz- 
er' s attack upon the Author- Hero of the Revolution. A little pamphlet which 
every admirer of Thomas Paine should have by him for reference.- 15 cents. 

Tribute to His Brother, Ebon C. Sngersoll. intnepam- 

phlet, "Liberty of Man, Woman and Child." 25 cents. 

Tribute tO ROSCOe ConkHng. Printed by the State of New York, 
on heavy plate paper, wide margins, fine steel engraving with autograph fac- 
simile of Mr. Conkling. Bound in black cloth, giltsides ; now out of print and 
very valuable 50 cents. 

Voltaire. A Lecture. With Portrait of the great French Philosopher and 
Poet. "Voltaire was the greatest man of his century, and did more to free th& 
human race than any other of the sons of men" 26 cents. 

Vision Of War C/W Magnificently illustrated with thirteen colored 
lithograph plates, by H. A. Ogden. One of the finest bursts of oratory, one of 
the subfimest pieces of word painting, one of the noblest prose-poems in all 
of Ingersoll's works and in all literature, is this " Vision of War.' ' Thousands 
have read it and been moved to tears or enthusiasm. There is nothing like it 
in the world ; for effectiveness it has no mate. The power of this masterpiece 
has been greatly augmented, perhaps doubled by the pictures which have 
been made to illustrate it by Mr. H. A. Ogden and printed with the text of the 
"Vision." The pictures are colored lithographs, printed upon heavy paper, 
about ten by twelve inches in size. Of these plates there are thirteen, with two 
additional leaves upon which the whole of the "Vision" is printed for con- 
secutive reading. One page shows the author in uniform as colonel of the 
Eleventh Illinois Cavalry in 18(32, and again in 1877, when he was at his prime. 
The artist was chosen by Colonel Ingersoll's publisher for this task because of 
his facilities for gaining access to the necessary material for the illustration of 
war scenes, and because of his attainments in this special field. The picture* 
were seen and approved by Colonel Ingersoll before his death. Next to the 
beauty of the collection is its cheapness. The whole of the vision, with its 
grand and pathetic passages, is effectively pictured by the artist. For a gift 
nothing can surpass in beauty and appropriateness these illuminated plates. 
The cost of all is not above the worth of each. Sent postpaid, complete $1.00 

Why 1 Am an AgnOStiC. A Lecture 25cents. 

*What Must We Do tO Be Saved ? A Lecture. Analyzes m 

so-called gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and devotes a chapter. 

each to the Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelical 

Alliance, and answers the question of the Christians as to what he proposes 

*tead of Christianity, the religion of sword and flame 25 cents. 

'Which Way. This lecture is a consideration of the difference between the 
natural and supernatural with some reasons why the former is the better way 
to go 25 cents. 

What Is Religion ? Colonel Tngersoll's^last public address, delivered 
at the meeting of Tne Free Religious Association in Boston on June 2, 1899..10 cts. 



**"&?} Hooks are setit by express or mail prepaid* upon 
receipt of prices named. 



Colonel Ingeraoll's Noto to the Public 

!J wish to notify the public that all books and pamphlets purporting to contain my lee- 
cures, and not containing the imprint of Mr. O. P. Fabsbll as publisher, are spurious, 
grossly inaccurate, filled with mistakes, horribly printed, and outrageously unjust to me. 
The publishers of all such are simply literary thieves and pirates, and are obtaining money 
from the public under false pretences. These wretches have published one leoture undi-r 
four titles, and several others under two or three. I take this course to warn the pnblii- 
that these publications are fraudulent , the only correct editions being those published by 
Mr. O. P. Fabbell. 

R. G Ingersoll. 



New Photographs of 

Col. Robt. G. Ingersoll. 



Just Taken ! 



PERFECT IN POSE! 

HAPPY IN EXPRESSION! 

FAULTLESS IN FINISH I 



THESE Pictures almost speak to you audibly. You 
have only to imagine the musical, sympathetic 
voice, the fine flashing eye, the glowing countenance, 
and the whole animated, pulsating form, to see and 
hear the living man and orator before you. 

All who want to see Col. Ingersoll as he is and 
stands to-day, will get this photo. The panel size, in 
full length portraiture, is particularly suited for framing, 
and is commended to all the Colonel's admirers as the 
one eminently fitted for parlor, library or drawing-room. 

PRICES; 

Panel, - 18 x 24 in. - $7-50 

Imperial, - 7^ x 13 in. - - 3.00 

Cabinet, - 4 x 6 in. - .50 

Sent to any address, by mail or express, prepaid. 

C. P. PARRELL, Publisher, 

1 1 7 East 2 1 st St., New York. 



R "^."S.'W ^DITIOR. TOST Fv3BLASS&D \ 

% gbort ^istorj; of the Bible: 

Being an account of the formation and development of the Canon, by 

BRONSON C. KEELER. 

Price, Cloth, 75 cents. Paper, 50 cents. Postage paid. 

This Book should be read by every Clergyman, Layman, Scholar and Liberal. 

Everybody knows that the contents of the Bible were voted upon bv different 
councils of the church ; that books were included in the early centuries which 
are no longer regarded as a part of the sacred scriptures ; that many of the 
books now in the Bible were tor centuries not a part of it ; and that bishops, and 
synods, and councils labored long- to agree upon what books should be con- 
sidered canonical and what should not be. But the general knowledge has been 
indefinite. Few people are aware, for example, that the book of Revelation 
was for 1500 years rejected by the Eastern branch of the Christian church, and 
was voted into the Bible by that branch at a council held in Jerusalem in 1672. 
The aim of Mr. Keeler's book is to go over this entire ground from the beginning 
of the Christian era to the present time, and to furnish all the facts concerning 
the formation and development of the Bible canon, giving briefly but succinctly 
the views of each bishop and the action of every council having anv influence 
on the contents of the sacred volume. Mr. Keel'er does not deal in opinions. He 
simply states facts, and gives a reference for each fact to the early Christian 
fathers and other recognized authorities ; and it is believed that his book 
(Snows much light on a hitherto obscured department of religious history. 

"I have read Mr. Keeler's book with great pleasure and profit. He gives, in 
my opinion, a clear and intelligent account of the growth of the bible. He 
shows why books were received as inspired, and why thev were rejected. He 
does not deal in opinions, but in facts ; and for the correctness of his facts, he 
refers to the highest authorities. He has shown exactly who the Christian 
fathers were, and the weight that their evidence is entitled to. The first cen- 
turies of Christianity are filled with shadow ; most histories of that period 
simply tell us what did not happen, and even the statements of what did not 
happen are contradictory. The falsehoods do not agree. Mr. Keeler must have 
spent a great deal of time in the examination of a vast number of volumes, and 
the amount of information contained in his book could not be collected in years. 
Every minister, every college professor, and every man who reallv wishes to 
know' something about the origin and growth of the bible, should read this 

book."— R. G. INGEKSOLL. 

To C. P. Farkell, Esq.— Often have T wished that some writer, who had a 
learned head and a lucid pen, would give us a brief yet comprehensive account 
of the Books of the Bible — how we came by them — when the world first got 
them— and what were the qualities, characters and pretensions of those who 
first imposed them up^n credulous and superstitious believers. Often have I 
wished that if such a book were written, some publisher, having the ear of the 
Free Thought world, would issue it. Great was mv surprise and pleasure when 
I saw at Washington, Bronson Keeler's "Short History of the Bible" we have, 
and the marvellous number of suppressed Scriptures'— all Christian, all curi- 
ous, all instructive— most of them wiser, all equally authentic, and all believed 
to be equally divine bv those who had better means of judging them than we 
have. All who are Christian — all who think they ought to be— and all who 
are not— should read Mr. Keeler's " Short," masterly and wise book.— GEORGE 

\COB Holyoake, London, England. 

The Neva York Sun, (Sunday, Oct. 9, 1881, in a review occupying four and one- 
quarter columns) : "On what questionable ground some writings were admitted 
and others excluded from the Christian scriptures is briefly and effectively set 
forth in a monograph entitled l A Short History of the Bible,' by Bronson C. 
Keeler. The writer of this striking essay has not drawn his materials from the 
German rationalists, but bases his assertions on the statements of Christian his- 
torians and commentators, especially on the writings of the Christian fathers 
and the ecclesiastical history of Rusebius, and, among modern works, on 
Milman's 'History of Latin Christianity.' and the disquisitions of \Y, 
Davidson, Lange and Schaff. We trust that no one who has been led bv the 
appearance of the revised version to ponder the origin and historv of the sacred 
writings Will fail to examine for himself Mr. Keeler's admirable monograph." 

Address C. P. FARRELL, Publisher, New York. 



«TviL»t Dut, JKI &\7V ISdltloxii 

Prose -Poenis and selections, 

BY 

ROBERT G. MGERSOLL. 

Sixth Edition, Revised and greatly Enlarged. A Handsome Quart*, 
containing over 400 pages. 

THIS is, beyond question, the most elegant volume in Liberal literature. It* 
mechanical finish is worthy of its intrinsic excellence. No expense has 
been spared to make if the thing of beauty it is. The type is large and 
clear, the paper heavy, highly calendered and richly tinted, the presa 
work faultless, and the binding as perfect as the best materials and skill can 
make it. The book is in every way an artistic triumph. 

As to the contents, it is enough to say that they include some of the choicest 
utterances of the greatest writer on the topics treated that has ever lived. 

You will have in this book of selections many bright samples of his lofty 
thought, his matchless eloquence, his wonderful imagery, and his epigrammatic 
and poetic power. 

The book is designed for, and will be accepted by, admiring friends as a rare 
personal souvenir To help it serve this purpose, a fine steel portrait, with au- 
tograph fac-simile, has been prepared especially for it. In the more elegant 
styles of binding it is eminently suited for presentation purposes, for any seasoa 
or occasion. ^ 

CONTENTS. 



Oration delivered on Decora • 
tion Day, 1882, before the 
Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, at the Academy of 
Music, N. Y., 

A Tribute to Ebon C. Inger- 
soll, 

A Vision of War. 

At a Child's Grave, 

Benefits for Injuries, 

We Build, 



The Unpardonable Sin, 

The Olive Branch, 

Free WU1, 

The King of Death, 

The Wise Man, 

Bruno, 

The Real Bible, 

Benedict Spinoza, 

The First Doubt. 

The Infinite Horror, 

Nature, 



A Tribute to the Rev. Alex- Night and Morning, 



ander Clark, 
The Grant Banquet, 
Apostrophe to Liberty, 
A Tribute to John G. Mills, 
The Warp and Woof, 
The Cemetery, 
Originality, 
Then and Now, 
Voltaire, 
Lazarus. 

What is Worship ? 
Humboldt, 
Ood Silent, 
Alcohol, 
Auguste Comte, 
The Infidel, 
Napoleon, 
The Republic, 
Dawn of the New Day, 
Reformers, 
The Garden of Eden. 
Thomas Paine, 
The Age of Faith, 
Origin of Religion, 



The Conflict, 

Death of the Aged, 

The Charity of Extravagance 

Woman, 

The Sacred Myths, 

Ins^'ration, 

Religious Liberty of the Bible. 

The Laugh of a child, 

The Christian Night, 

Mv Choice, 

Why? 

Imagination, 

Science, 

If Death Ends All, 

Here and There, 

How Long? 

Liberty, 

Jehovah and Brahma, 

The Free Soul, 

Life, 

Tribute to Henry Ward 



The Sacred Leaves, 

Origin and Destiny. 

What is Poetry ? 

My Position, 

Good and Bad, 

The Miiaculous Book, 

Orthodox Dotage, 

The Abc.itionists, 

P^vidence, 

The Man Christ, 

The Divine Salutation, 

At the Grave of Benjamin W. 

Parker, 
Fashion and Beauty. 
Apostrophe to Science, 
Elizur Wright. 
The Imagination, 
No Respecter of Persons, 
Abraham Lincoln, 
The Meaning of Law, 
What is Blasphemy? 
Some Reasons, 
Selections, 
Love, 

The Birthplace of Burns, 
Mrs. Ida Whiting Knowles, 
Art and Morality, 
Tributr to Roscoe Conklin, 
Tribute to Rich'd H. Whiting. 
Mrs. Mary H. Fiske, 
Horace Seaver, 
The Music of Wagner, 
Leaves of Grass, 
Vivisection, 



Beecher, 
Tribute to Courtn. .Ct Palmer The Republic of Mediocrity, 
The Brain, A Tribute to Walt Whitma Bi 

In Cloth, beveied boards, gilt edges, - - $2.50 

In Half Morocco, gilt edges, - - 5.00 

!n Half Calf, mottled edges, library style, - 4-.50 

In Full Turkey Morocco, gilt, exquisitely fine, 7.50 

In Full Tree-Calf, highest possible finish, - 9.00 

»>•-«. to any address, by express, prepaid, or mail, post free, on receipt of pric* 
99- A oheaper edition from same plates, good paper, wide margins, cloth, $1.50."®* 

C. P . FARE LL, 117JE. 21 st Street, New York 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



~$ ' ^ 



At 012 025 087 5 1 




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